(CNN) Paulinho Paiakan, a Kayapó chief known for his environmental protests in Brazil, has died after being hospitalized for coronavirus, Brazil's Health Ministry has confirmed. Paiakan, 66, died Wednesday in a hospital in Redenção, in southern Pará, a state where the coronavirus epidemic has spread among indigenous communities and has killed several tribal elders, according to CNN Brasil. The health ministry said it had followed Paiakan's situation closely after he was diagnosed with coronavirus and then hospitalized for it. Paiakan was known for drawing attention to the cost of building the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant on the Amazon's Xingu River in the 1980s. Internationally recognized as a great advocate for the forest and its peoples, Paiakan was a source of inspiration in the struggle for all of us," said advocacy group Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) in a statement.

Source: CNN June 18, 2020 11:19 UTC